Blank-feed mechanism.



C. T. BRENNAN.

BLANK FEED MECHANISM.

PPUCATN FILED SEPT' 1915. Ll.. Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

MMT@ i Imm im, 5

THB COLUMNA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINQTIN n f C. T. BRENNAN.

BLANK FEED IVIECHANISM.A

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I?. I9I5.

Patented Apr. 25,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA PLANounAPH co., WASHING-rubi, D. c.

` rieoeos. i

*uren earns rarnivr ernten.

, CHARLES T.` BRENNAN, OF WTATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR-TO THE E. J'. MAN- VILLE MACHINE COMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNCTTCUT, A CORPORATION OF CDNNECTICUT.

BLANK-FEED MECHANISM.

Application filed September 17, 1915.

' To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLEs T. BRENNAN, a citi/ten of the United States, residing at 'Waterbury in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Blank-Feed Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. t

rThis invention relates to the mechanism which is provided for automatically picking bolt and screw blanks from a promiscuousl mass in a hopper and feeding them in correct position to the operating tools of such machines as headers, screw slotters, screw thread rollers, bolt threaders, bolt pointers and bolt trimmers. The blanks to be operated upon in such machines are thrown into a hopper and by an elevator are picked up and delivered to a raceway down which it is desired that they shall flow in a continuous stream with all of their heads up and in line, and their shanks hangingA down parallel with each other. Frequently, particularly with'plarge and heavy machine screw and bolt blanks, the blanks are lifted by the elevator crosswise or otherwise so misplaced as to interrupt the flow of blanks down the raceway. This impairs efficiency as during the interruption of the feed the machine runs idle, that is, the operating mechanisms, while actuated, have no blanks to operate upon. Numerous mechanisms have been designed for clearing the elevator' and raceway of these misplaced o1.' unruly blanks and on certain classes of work these have operated successfully, but on other work, such as the handling of large and heavy blanks, they have failed to operate satisfactorily.

The object of this invention is to provide the automatic feeds of machines of this charact-er with blank clearance mechanism which is actuated in such manner that it will remove misplaced and unruly blanks of all sizes, particularly those of the larger and heavier sizes, so surely and quickly that the flow of blanks to the operating mechanisms of the machine will be uninterrupted. To attain this end a comb is arranged to be continuously reciprocated longitudinally along the upper end of the raceway in the hopper, at much greater speed than the reciprocations of the elevator, in such a way that it will knock off from the elevator and back into the hopper all misplaced or unruly blanks before they have time to interfere Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, Hilti.,

Serial No. 51,178.

with or interrupt the flow down the raceway.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a side elevation of a blank feed mechanism constructed according to the invention. Fig. 2 shows a plan of the hopper and feed mechanism. Fig. 3 shows an elevation looking at the opposite side of the hopper and feed mechanism from that shown in Fig. l. Fig. Lle shows a vertical section on the plane indicated by the dotted line -fL-: .on Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a view looking at the face of the clearing comb. Fig. 6 is a side view of the bracket, and face View of the crank which reciprocates the comb.

The blanks are thrown indiscriminately into the hopper l. Those blanks which happen to be in available position are picked from the promiscuous mass in the hopper and lifted by the elevator l which, in the form shown, consists of two plates fastened together at a distance from each other so that the Shanks of the blanks will hang down between them as their 'heads are caught and carried up by the upper edges. The elevator plates are secured to a lever 3 which is mounted on one end of a shaft Ll. On the other end of this shaft is a rocker arm 5 which by a link 6 is connected with a crank 7 that is attached to a gear 8. Meshing with this gear is a pinion 9 on the main shaft l0 which carries the driving pulley 1l. By this mechanism the elevator is lowered down to the bottom of the hopper and then raised until the upper edges of the plates are in line with the 'plates of the inclined raceway 12. The raceway plates, which are spaced apart as are the elevator plates, are secured to the outside of the hopper' and extend through an opening in the front wall on such an angle that the raised blanks hanging by their heads will slide down the elevator and along the raceway through the front wall of the hopper.

In the hopper at the upper end of the raceway is a comb plate 13. This comb plate has an opening through it which will allow the passage of the heads of those blanks that are properly located. that is, which are hanging by their heads on the elevator. but will not permit the passage of blanks lifted crosswise, or otherwise misplaced. The comb plate is attached to the end of an arm 14: which is connected with the lever '15 that is pivoted to the bracket 'i 16. 'This leverl'is slotted and movable in theislot is a block 17 mounted on a crank v H5-pin f18f'that` projects from avdisk 19 on the end of a shaft 20. Atthe outer end of this shaft is a pulley 21 which is connected by a belt 22 with a pulley 23 on themain driving shaft. This crank mechanism rapidly reciprocates the comb along the top edge at the upper end oit the raceway, and as the comb reciprocates very fast vit knocks away L from the upper endof the raceway, while the lelevator is down, all misplaced or un` ruly. blanks which have been brought up,

- so 4that the raceway isalways clear to receive from the elevator the blanks that .are

properly located to slide down and out ot' the hopper to the forming mechanisms of 'the machine to which the automatic feed ing therefrom', of an elevator adapted to be lowered andy raisedr in the hopper, mechanism including arotatory crank for lowering f and E'raising *they 'elevator at a moderate Speed,r` a-comb adapted to be Hrecipiocatecl at the .upper end of the raceway, mechanism v including a rotatoryr crankvfor rapidly reciprocating the comb, and. drivingmecha- `,nism arranged toactuatethe elevator'crank mechanism andA thecombcrankmechanism. r 2. The combination with; ahopper of an ;automatic blank feed, of an-,elevatorwith lani inclined-lifting .edgefadapted to ''be reciprocated'up and down in' the hopper, mechanism for reciprocating the elevator at a moderate rate -of speedifor 4liting'j?fthe blanks, a ycomb' adapted kto "be reciprocated adjacent to the lower ed eVof7the5feleVat0r `for knocking away blan is which are improperly lifted by the elevator, mechanism for reciprocating the comb faster thanthe `reciprocation of `the elevator, and driving mechanism for actua-ting the elevator reciprocating mechanism.L andl the comb reciproeatingA mechanism.

3.. In an automatic 'blankfeed the com- .binationfoil a hopper with a raceway- Ileading-therefrom and an felevatorsreciprocatfing therein, a `colnbl movable in the hopper along the upper end of the `raceway 4andadjacent to the elevator, and mecha-nismwfor reciprocating the elevator slowly and the comb rapidly. v

In an automatic .blank -feed lthe ffcombination vwith a hopper and araceway Vleadcrank mounted.` upon thevhopper, a. linkfconnection` between the. crank and the comb. driving mechanismfor rapidly rotating the comb. crank, and speed reducing ymechanism f between theI 1 driving mechanism and the velevator .f crank, fwhereby the elevator is :raised andlowered slowly and the comb is reciprocated'` rapidly.

f CHARLES 'rrBRENN-AN.

i' (Eopi'es of this patent may be obtained for-"five cents each, .by addressing the Commissioner of? intents,

- 'Wgshington, D. C. 

